Competency based interviews are a widely utilised style of interviewing. Competency based interviewing, also known as behavioural interviewing, requires you to draw on past experience and describe specific examples of incidents that demonstrate your competence in a particular area. The most effective way of answering these questions is to use the 'STAR' technique:
SITUATION briefly describe the background to the situation TASK specifically describe your responsibility ACTION describe what you did RESULT describe the outcome of your actions.
Here is an excellent answer to a competency-based question that is testing teamwork as a competence:
Question: "Team work is very important in our organisation. What evidence do you have to prove that you are a good team player?"
Answer: "I have a number of examples I could share with you. In one instance, when I was working as a financial analyst at ABC Company, the sales team were putting together a bid for a large piece of work and the analyst that normally helps them was on leave. I offered to help them and worked late every night for two weeks to ensure they had all the information they needed. They took on my suggestions regarding pricing and also some creative ideas I had on formatting the proposal. As it turned out we won the bid and I was promoted as a result."
